A Tiger Doesn't Eat Its Cubs

Seeing his bare-armed brother-in-arms supporting Zhao Wu and heading inside, Li Huowang followed, a feeling of unease growing in his chest.

“Fifth Brother, come in quickly! Where have you been all these days? Sixth Sister and I were so worried about you. We thought something terrible had happened.”

Li Huowang watched the two of them disappear into the interior, then stepped forward to follow. His gut told him this wasn’t going to be simple.

“Why are you back?” The man at the abacus spoke without any particular warmth or coldness. Li Huowang knew he had guessed right.

The excitement on Zhao Wu’s face drained away. His voice trembled as he spoke. “Father, I was taken—someone threw a sack over my head and dragged me off. They brought me far away. These friends of mine brought me back.”

Zhao Wu’s father looked at the black bamboo hats crowding the doorway and waved his hand impatiently. “Disperse, all of you! Blocking the entrance like this—how are we supposed to do business?”

The man’s attitude rubbed Li Huowang the wrong way. Their father-son problems weren’t his concern.

He snatched the longsword from Zhao Wu’s hand, lifted it high. A flash of cold light, and the sharp blade bit deep into the man’s wooden counter, nearly splitting it in half.

“What do you think you’re doing? The town constable is a relative of mine!” Zhao Wu’s father stumbled back in fright.

Li Huowang pulled a silver tael from his pocket with his right hand, and in full view of the man, slowly shaved a small piece off along the gleaming blade. Then he pushed the shaved silver across the counter. “Buying rice.”

Inside the small back courtyard of the grain shop, Zhao Wu was pouring tea for Li Huowang. “Senior Brother Li, please calm down. That’s just how my father is. In his heart, he’s really not a bad man.”

Li Huowang picked up the teacup and drained it. Good or bad, it wasn’t his business. He hadn’t come just to deliver Zhao Wu.

He pushed a handful of paper slips across the table to Zhao Wu. “Those are the dying words the prisoners left behind. Since you know Jianye Town, find a reliable escort agency and have these sent out.”

Zhao Wu took the slips with both hands and nodded solemnly. “Senior Brother Li, rest assured. I’ll see it done.”

“Good. That’s all. You stay home and rest. We’re leaving.” Li Huowang stood.

“Already so soon? Why not stay for lunch? I owe my life to all of you.”

Zhao Wu clearly didn’t want them to go. This parting might be the last time they ever saw each other.

“Forget it. Don’t bother.” Li Huowang patted Zhao Wu on the shoulder. Given how his father had behaved, that meal would be anything but peaceful.

“Remember the characters I taught you these past days, especially your name. Being able to write your own name—at least that keeps you from being completely illiterate.”

Just as Li Huowang was giving his final instructions, the hirsute woman—their female human ingredient—suddenly rushed forward. She pressed her mouth to his ear and whispered, barely audible: “When you get home, look into it properly. Maybe you weren’t kidnapped. Maybe your father sold you.”

The words struck everyone silent. They stood frozen until Zhao Wu’s third brother came out carrying a sack of rice. Li Huowang waved at the fool, who picked up the rice, and led the others away.

Out on the crowded street, Li Huowang and his group searched for an inn.

“Why do you think Zhao Wu was sold by his father?” He turned to the hirsute woman who had spoken those final words to Zhao Wu.

She had been silent throughout the entire journey, rarely speaking to anyone. Her sudden outburst surprised him.

“Even a vicious tiger doesn’t eat its own cub,” he said. “He can’t be that bad.”

At this, the woman’s body began to tremble uncontrollably. Her voice broke with grief. “A tiger doesn’t eat its cubs, but a man is crueler than a tiger! Because I was sold by my own father and mother!”

Everyone stopped. They stared at her in shock.

“Two silver taels. A paltry two silver taels! He sold me like I was livestock! He didn’t even look back.”

Bai Lingmiao felt the pain in her words. She walked over, gently wrapped her arms around the woman, and patted her back in comfort.

Li Huowang thought for a moment, then asked, “He already sold you. Are you still going back?”

“Yes!” The woman growled through clenched teeth.

Li Huowang could guess from the trembling rise and fall of her chest and the raw hatred in her voice that her reasons for going back would not be the same as Bai Lingmiao’s.

“The Eastern Welcome Inn. We’re staying there tonight.” Li Huowang pointed to a sign on the left side of the street and walked in first.

“Welcome, honored guests! Are you stopping for a meal or lodging?”

“Lodging. How much for a room?”

“We have three grades: A, B, and C. Room A is ninety coppers, includes meals. Room B is sixty coppers, no meals. Room C is twenty coppers, but you share with others.”

“Honored guest, I count seven adults and five children, twelve in total. You could take four B-class rooms. Our inn has spacious rooms—three to a room is no problem, and two adults with one child is safer for sleeping.”

“Fine. We’ll do as you say.”

“Very well! Twelve honored guests, four B-class rooms! Upstairs, please! Mind the steps!”

That night, Li Huowang leaned by the window, watching the ancient people moving through the streets below.

After all the traveling, he finally had time to sit still and properly observe this world so different from his own.

A burly man leading a horse. A scholar carrying a fan. A child with a lantern. A hunched peddler carrying food on a shoulder pole.

Everything here was so real. And yet it all felt so out of place for him.

Faces flashed past one after another. As he watched, his mind suddenly swam. His muscles locked tight all at once.

He saw Yang Na on the street.

Her delicate face was streaked with tears. She was heartbroken, crying so hard she could barely breathe. “Huowang, wake up! Please!”

“Haah!” He stumbled backward, cold sweat drenching his body. Then he lunged forward again, staring down.

But it wasn’t his childhood sweetheart, Yang Na. It was just a girl with a passing resemblance.

“Right… I’ve grown up now. If Yang Na really exists, how could she still be a girl…”

Li Huowang slid down the wall, his back scraping against the plaster. His eyes stared blankly at the wooden beams overhead. “Is the hallucination starting again?”

A knock came at the door.

“Come in. It’s not locked.”

He expected it to be Gouwa, who shared the room with him. Instead, it was Bai Lingmiao.

Smiling, she carried a lotus-leaf-wrapped bundle in both hands and offered it to him. When she opened the leaf, a few steaming-hot meat buns sat inside. “Senior Brother Li, you must be hungry. Eat.”

Li Huowang grabbed one and stuffed it into his mouth, chewing in big bites.

Bai Lingmiao held the bundle, crouched down to his left, and watched him in silence. Whenever he finished one, she promptly handed him another.

“This place is interesting,” Li Huowang said. “Someone selling meat buns this late at night.”

“Is it really that unusual? If you want to talk about strange, look at the fool. He dips his buns in vinegar!”

“Heh. I wonder where he’s from, with a habit like that.”

As they chatted, Li Huowang suddenly remembered something. “I didn’t give you any money. Where did you get the coins for these buns?”

Bai Lingmiao’s eyes darted away. She set the remaining buns on her lap, then pulled several large lumps of silver from her waist, holding them out to him with both hands.

“Senior Brother Li, I pawned my gold anklet. You’ve been through so much alone. There isn’t much else I can do, so this is how I help.”